Mission Control: Unsung heroes of Apollo

When we think of Apollo missions to the Moon, the first image that comes to our mind is that of astronauts. Doubtlessly, they were the public face of the mammoth project, but there was another group of people that was equally vital to the success of their flight: The Mission Control Center, Houston.

Conceptualized by Chris Kraft, the mission control was nerve center of each space flight. Flight controllers guide the rocket and spacecraft, monitor the onboard systems and instruct the astronauts. They analyze the vast streams of data pouring into their consoles and sometimes have to make split-second decisions that can save or destroy the billion-dollar spacecraft as well as invaluable lives onboard. In the case of Apollo-13, it was the team at Mission Control that devised procedures and workarounds to keep the three astronauts alive and bring them back safely to Earth.
This is the story of these people. We get to meet tough and competent Flight Directors like Gene Kranz and Glynn Lunney, bright and sharp flight controllers like John Aaron, Steve Bales, and Sy Liebergot.
It is inspiring to see what these men, almost all of them from humble beginnings, could achieve within a decade, and it is equally humbling to realize that when they created history, the average age of team at mission control was... 30 years.
If the words NASA and Apollo turn you on, then skipping this documentary is not an option.

25 years of Jurassic Park

Silver Jubilee anniversary of the release of Jurassic Park movie was a trip down the memory lane. At a time when we didn't easily get permission to watch English movies, this movie was an exception, perhaps because it didn't have much of a... ahem, romance... And yet it was a complete package with action, drama, suspense and humour. The friendly Dr Alan Grant, fatherly
billionaire John Hammond, chatterbox mathematician Ian Malcolm, fat Nedry, the two cute kids, sweet-n-smiling Dr. Ellie Sattler... and of course the dinosaurs. They were the best. 

Even today, 25 years later, whenever I see ripples in a glass of water, my first thought is... Is there a T Rex around?

Raazi and Parmanu

After a long time -- in fact after more than 2 years -- I watched Hindi movies in a theater, after being persuaded (euphemism for 'dragged') by Arti.
Raazi is a story of an Indian spy that lived in Pakistan and collected valuable inside information pertaining to the impending Bangladesh war. A fast-paced script, tight editing, and a focused, linear plot ensured that there wasn't a single dull moment. Impressive performances by Alia Bhatt and supportiing cast take this movie to an another level. "Finding Sehmat", the book on which this movie is based,
would surely make for a superb reading.
Parmanu narrates the fantabulous job that our scientists and engineers did in successful detonation of a series of atomic bombs and a hydrogen bomb in Pokhran in 1998. It shows the initial aborted attempts, the revival of the team and the need to work in intense secrecy due to constant surveillance by American spy satellites. A few real-world TV clippings, featuring Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bill Clinton, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif interwoven in the plot bring back memories of those days.
It's a good movie, and it could have been even
better if it had also shown some technical aspects, such as how the components were transported, how the bombs were assembled,
and what the tests attempted to measure, at least to the extent of whatever information is available in the public domain. Instead, it places too much focus on human interactions. Nevertheless, John Abraham deserves kudos for taking up a history-science subject and making a movie for the masses.

All in all, both the movies deserve their ticket money. We need more such stuff.

[Movie] Dunkirk - Christopher Nolan

If you loved watching World War II-related movies such as Schindler’s List, The Pianist, Saving Private Ryan, or -- from the more recent times -- 'Valkyrie' and 'Fury', then you must—and I repeat, you MUST – watch Dunkirk.

But before you set out to watch this movie, two things:

1. Do your homework. Christopher Nolan provides no background information except a couple of lines of text at the beginning. To fully appreciate the importance of this moment in history, you must read beforehand about the Dunkirk siege and evacuation.
2. Watch this in a good movie hall. It’s more of an ‘experience’ that just fills you up at multiple levels. If you can go to an IMAX, please do! This movie deserves to be seen in its full glory, or gloom.

“Dunkirk” has no ‘hero’ or ‘villain’ in the traditional sense of these words. It has no female lead, no ‘family moments’, and it has no comic relief whatsoever. There are no lengthy, dramatic dialogs, no emotional and inspirational speeches. The movie provides no backstories of the characters. What unfolds before you for 110 minutes is war… pure, unadulterated, not-dumbed-down war in its full harshness, seen through the point-of-view of three groups of people -- on land, on the sea and in the air -- with their nonlinear timelines eventually converging together.

Nolan captures the WW2 era perfectly… the muted color tones, the staccato gunfire, the ominous hum of Heinkel and Messerschmitt aircraft of Luftwaffe, the Spitfires from Royal Air Force engaging them in a dance of death over panoramic views of English Channel. 

There are times when you hardly breathe, not just because of unrelenting action and mind numbing cinematography but also due to the heart-thumping background score by Hans Zimmer. It begins on a subtle level, and gradually grows on you until it firmly grips you… body, mind, and soul.

I noticed that nowhere in the movie does anyone refer to “Nazi Germany”. It’s always ‘the enemy’. In fact, no ‘enemy’ soldiers are ever seen throughout the movie. They are always represented by bullets, bombs, and torpedoes.

The movie primarily depicts fights over the sea and in the sky. I would have loved to see some action underwater (the U-Boats!), and over the land (especially the Panzer tanks!). They are referred to multiple times, but never actually shown on the screen.

If you wish to 'virtually live' a war scene, see 'Dunkirk'.

[Movie] Rush

After Michael Schumacher retired, I had stopped keeping 'track' of Formula-1 races. So, watching this movie last evening was a trip down the memory lane, reminiscing about the days of cutting photographs of 'Schumi' from Sportstar and other magazines. 

The movie portrays the intense rivalry between two F-1 pro's of the 1970s, Niki Lauda and his arch rival, James Hunt. Directed by Ron Howard (Apollo 13/ A Beautiful Mind), the plot remains largely true to the historical accuracies, complemented by some top-notch acting and snippets of dialog, especially by Lauda. 

If the VROOM, VROOOOM sound and the sight of huge tyres scorching the tracks send an adrenaline rush through you and if you enjoy watching tightly-edited, fast-paced movies, this one is for you.

हाच माझा मार्ग (Haach Maajha Marg) - Sachin Pilgaonkar

हाच माझा मार्ग (Haach Maajha Marg), the autobiography of Sachin Pilgaonkar is perhaps one of the most detailed memoirs written by a contemporary Indian film star, and rightly so… His repertoire across Hindi and Marathi films spans a staggering 50+ years. 

The book measures about 320 pages and almost each page has a photo, many of them quite rare ones. Text is lucid and we get to read many behind-the-scenes, personal stories about movies and movie legends. The author shares his feelings, views and thoughts candidly and at times bluntly, which is great for a book about film industry notorious for its hypocrite ways.

The problem with this book is, after a while, it starts sounding a bit too much of "I, Me, Myself". At first glance, this may seem inevitable in an autobiography, but in the hands of a good editor, so many sentences could have been written in a much better way to make Mr. Pilgaonkar appear less of a narcissist. 

Secondly, and more importantly,  nowhere in the book does the author offer any deep, substantially meaningful insights into the soul of the industry he worked in for 50 years. The book reads more like a chronology of films and events than a retrospection of a thoughtful veteran.  

[Movie] कट्यार काळजात घुसली

कट्यार काळजात घुसली is a magnificent cinematic experience. The film boasts of very high production quality, an ensemble cast and course, one of the best music track of recent times. Kudos to Subodh Bhave and his team!

[Movie] The Martian

After watching "The Martian", I remembered this superb quote from Randall Munroe (the guy who creates the legendary XKCD comics):

The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the 'sensible' economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space. 

These planets are discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.

[Movie] Age of Ultron

Never thought I would get bored watching an Avengers movie. 

Well, the "Age of Ultron" proved me wrong.

Movie marathon

Catching up on my To-Watch movies list. Done with....

Scarface: 

One of the best gangsta movies I have seen. Al Pacino's Tony Montana act is very impressive.

Finding Neverland: 

Didn't know Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet did a movie together. Glad they did this one. But the little boy Peter steals the show.

The Insider: Russel Crowe and Al Pacino in one movie!

Serenity (sci fi), Into the Wild (superb!), Identity (suspense thriller, awesome!!), Zero Dark Thirty, and The Way Back (Ed Harris and Collin Farrell ) All good stuff. 

Wish I had stayed miles away from Piranha 3DD. They have made a mockery out of it.

Have got hold of Abyss (James Cameron), Total Recall ( 1 and 2) and Babylon AD. Have seen these quite some time back, but it's good to have them in the collection. 

Watched two science fiction movies based on the theme of time travel.

"The Primer" 

...has quite a complex plot, dialogue is full of scientific jargon. This is a movie that the better you understand the more you enjoy -(just like Inception). 

"Looper" 

... explores the idea of what would happen if you travelled back in time and killed your own self. Both movies recommended.

"The Moon"

.... One of the more intriguing science fiction films that I have seen. No special effects, no action sequences, the movie contains only one character and his robot companion, yet keeps you hooked till the end.

'Oblivion' 

...  Good sci-fi movie, first half a little boring, the second half much exciting.

Some good things lined up...

Sherlock: 

After watching Jeremy Brett's stellar performance in "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Jeremy Brett", I didn't wish to watch anyone doing Holmes. But this BBC series seems to be a worthy exception. Have seen some snippets, awaiting the real stuff. 

[Movie] 3 Idiots

Shahrukh Khan may be looking for a blockbuster success in My Name is Khan, Salman Khan may have his hands full of controversies, Hritik may have almost disappeared from the face of Bollywood, but ‘aal is well” with the Ace Khan: Aamir Khan.

3 Idiots, produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, directed by Rajkumar Hirani (Munnabhai-fame) and starring Aamir, Kareena, Boman Irani, R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi predictably released on 25-December. This is the third of Aamir’s films (after Taare Zameen Par and Ghajini) to be released on 25-December, and if the signs are anything to go by, is slated to be another blockbuster hit.

If Taare Zameen Par was about mind and its problems (dyslexia), Ghajini was about a split mind and an awesome body, 3 Idiots has lots and lots of the nether part, the butt. In any other film, it would have been gross and awful, but Hirani makes it a focal point of laugh riot that ensues.

3 Idiots is indeed a laugh-riot, except some parts where it tries to appeal to our minds… and our hearts.

There is some talk about the film being based upon “Five Point Someone: What You Shouldn’t Do at IIT” by Chetan Bhagat. The movie does have some resemblance: a premier technical institute and its three whacky protagonists, the gorgeous daughter of principal, and a couple of sequences; but to conclude that the whole plot is based on the book would be going too far.

Of the cast, Aamir steals the show naturally. Be it his impish face or his body language, he looks fresh, every bit a college student. Boman Irani, Madhavan and Sharman Joshi suit their roles nicely. Kareena doesn’t have much to do.

Though the songs haven’t exactly been a rage, the one song that stays with you is “Behti hawa sa tha wo…”. The lyrics of “Give me some sunshine” are fantastic. “Zoobi Doobi” is wonderfully retro.

The movie is a full 3-hr long run, but credit goes to the director for not making it seem lengthy. Still, a couple of sequences could have been completely chopped off, in order to make the product a bit more compact and effective.

But mostly, the movie is full paisa wasool stuff. On a scale of 1-10 (where 10 is the best), I would rate 3 Idiots at 7, plus an extra 0.5 thrown in for some awesome cinematographic shots of Ladakh and Simla.

Jodha -Akbar

I watched Jodha-Akbar last Sunday. It could definitely be termed as one of the most-awaited movies of recent times; for one, it is directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, secondly it stars the two of the hottest stars of contemporary Bollywood: Hritik & Aishwarya; and last but not the least, it has AR Rehman as the music-composer.

The film does not disappoint on any of these counts.
Jodha-Akbar is basically a tale of two lovers, who first come together for strategic reasons rather than love; but soon develop a true affection towards each other. Rest of the movie revolves around this, never mind the political intrigue.

Hritik is magnificent. He lends poise and elegance to his character of Emperor Akbar. In the military attire, he looks more of a Roman warrior than a Mughal, but once he dons the Mughal 'jiretop' you hardly notice that.

Aishwarya looks stunning, as always. Those who still refuse to call her 'beautiful', God forgive you!
The two complement each other perfectly, and one can definitely feel a certain comfort between the tow of them.

Rest of the supporting cast performs well. Was it Ila Arun in the role of Akbar's 'daai-maa'?

AR Rehman has composed another stunning score, varied from "Manmohana Kanha" to "Khwaja mere khwaja", via "Kehne ko Ishq". But my personal favourite – even before I watched the film - was "Inhi lamhon ke daaman mein", and it was nice to see it picturized so sensually.

So much for the good news, and now here's some not so good one... if not exactly bad.

The film is over 3 and half hours long. The length may not be agonizing, but it does tend to get unbearable after a particular point. One of the reasons is that the script hasn't much of suspense or moments that really keep you on edge or wondering about what would happen next. The movie could have done with at least half an hour chopped off.

And secondly, dialogs are dull. Of the cast, only Hritik seems to speak the Urdu somewhat effortlessly. Others speak which seems to be a cross-breed between Urdu & Hindi.

Yet, the movie is worth the bucks, a delight to the eyes, as well as ears. Watch it for the sizzling chemistry between the lead pair if not only for the costumes and sets.

7 Reasons I Loved Taare Zameen Par

Taare Zameen Par is movie produced & directed by Amir Khan, starring Darsheel Safari,& Amir Khan. The movie released on 21st December 2007, but it was only on 20th Jan 2008, that I could watch it.
I loved the movie, and here are some of the prime reasons why:

• The movie begins with a dyslexic kid, and stays that way. Aamir Khan, producer & director, and arguably the best actor in Bollywood today, appears in 2nd half, in a supporting role
• The principal of boarding school isn't Anupam Kher, with some Ms. Braganza to horse around.
• The lyrics of all songs
• No dream-sequences, no flash-backs to make life difficult for the viewer
• Cinematography: Mumbai at its realistic best, and beautiful shot ofPaanchgaNii
• The kid doesn’t give a speech towards the climax.
• The movie doesn’t evoke sympathy; but understanding about dyslexic kids. It actually adds to your knowledge; I didn't know Edison, Agatha Christie, Walt Disney, Pablo Picasso, and Abbie Bacchan were dyslexic; neither was I aware that Indian Constitution makes it mandatory for school to treat differently-gifted children on par with other children

[Movie] Don

Well, I watched Don at City Pride-Kothrud (Pune) last Sunday, along with my brother and cousin brother. I had not seen any of its promos, still had some positive vibes, because this remake was being directed by Farhan Akhtar, whose earlier two movies Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya are among my favourites.
...and he has indeed lived up to the expectations. His version of Don is as good as the original one. Here are my comments on the same....

Story/Script/Dialogues:Writing anything about the story would giving away the movie's USP. So suffice it to say that the story is different from the original one.
Most of famous dialogues from the original movie are retained: such as "Don ko pakaDna mushkil hi nahi, naamumkin hai" "yeh tum janti ho ki pistol khaali hai..." "Muze uske joote achche nahi lage...." etc.

Music/Songs:
Music is by Shankar-Ehsaaan-Loy and they have done a good turn by retaining the theme from the original. Songs have been kept to the bare minimum. "Main Hu Don" is rather good, and "Khaike Paan Banaaraswaala" has been made more zingy.
The song by Kareena Kapoor is more vulgar than sensuous. In fact, it is rather boring.

Cinematography:
Simply supperb! Almost entire movie is shot in Malaysia, and it is refreshing to see something other than the snow-clad mountains of Alps/Switzerland or the by-now familiar trio of Paris-London-New York. I guess this year more Indians would be visiting Malaysia than ever before.

Cast:
Apart from Shahrukh as Don, the star-cast consists of Boman Irani, Priyanka Chopra, Isha Koppikar and Arjun Rampal. Boman Irani is the best of the lot. It's a joy to watch his facial expressions and body language. He is certainly one of the most versatile actors we have today.
Priyanka Chopra seems to be modelling herself on Angelina-taai ( the one who was in Pune, not so long ago, along with Brad-bhau and Shiloh Nouvel-baaL).Isha Koppikar and Arjun Rampal do their roles rather well.But, the movie rests squarely on the shoulders of Shahrukh.... and let's admit it, the King Khan has certainly done a good job. His Don is more flamboyant, more flirtatious and.... well, much more cunning and ruthless. Of course, Shahrukh is yet to overcome his typical mannerisms, but they don't affect the don's character to a great extent.

Direction:
Full Marks to Farhan Akhtar. He has interpreted the classic in his own way, without damaging the original. This Don is more sophisticated ( uses a Compaq laptop and drives nothing less than a Mercedes), the film is a polished work of art and is edited in such a way that it picks up the pace gradually and then never slows.]

Do watch this movie.... it's full-too paisa wasool.
I am aware that there would be some who want to spoil the mood by comparing the remake with original and whining about Big B's acting etc... IMO, Amitabh's movie is certainly a classic but Shahrukh's Don is as good in its own right.

[Movie] KANK: IT-style Review

On 2006-08-12, Saturday, we watched “KKKabhi Alvida Na KKKehna”, a movie directed by KKKaran Johar and starring SRK, RM, AB, Jr AB, PZ, KD, JA, AR, etc etc, ad infinitum. Here, I have written a review using typical IT jargon. Hope you will enjoy it.

1. The program KANK has not been built as per proper Functionality Design Specification (script).
2. The director should have first created a proper Design Document (screenplay) and then begun the actual coding.
3. AmitabhBachchan is a powerful class with a number of methods and functions but it has not been effectively used.
4. AbhishekBachchan, a derived class of AmitabhBachchan, inherits all the attributes and properties of its parent class.
5. ShahRukhKhan and RaniMukherjee are emotionally overloaded and go into an infinite weeping loop every 60 milliseconds.
6. The methods such as Songs() and Cinematography() have been properly executed and produce fantastic results.
7. PreityZinta is an abstract class, which looks pretty but actually does nothing.
8. Functions like ArjunRampal, JA, and KD pass NULL values and are redundant.
9. The program takes an unbearably long time to terminate… about 3 hours and 20 minutes.
10. Overall, the package is not worth purchasing. You may opt for pirated copies, though.

[Movie] Da Vinci Code

Well, Yesterday night I watched the movie "Da Vinci Code" with my office pals.

The movie is based upon best-seller book of same name by Dan Brown. The star-cast consists of Tom Hanks (as Robert Langdon, the symbologist), Audrey Tautou (as Sophie Neveu, the French cryptographer) and Alfred Molina (as Aringarosa, the priest) apart from others.

Movie is about two-and-half hour’s duration. It is directed by Ron Howard (Academy award- winning director of Academy award-wining film "A Beautiful Mind").


Plus Points:

1. Tom Hanks fits perfectly with my own image of Robert Langdon. He has the right bearing, the body language, and doesn’t go over the top.
2. Unlike other movies based on novels (Devdas), here the director has stuck faithfully to the book right from first page to the last, with minor modifications. Even dialogues are mostly from the book.
3. Most of the shooting has been done on authentic locations, be it Louvre Museum, or St Sulpice Church. Only the Westminster Abbey has been filmed from outside.

Minus Points:

1. The character of Sophie Neveu.... While reading the book, I had pictured her as an introvert, with a round face and bright eyes. However, Audrey Tautou who plays the character is miles away from this image. She has an aquiline face, with a hard-set jaw-line. Moreover, she fails to emote well. Just imagine... one fine evening, you come to know that you are the direct descendant of Jesus Christ, and she appears to take it very casually!
2. It is quite clear that director has assumed viewers must have read the book. So the movie rushes at a breakneck pace, and sometimes many points are not properly explained. Unless one has read the book, it would be difficult for someone to understand the sequence of events on screen.
3. In spite of technical finesse, the movie somehow fails to make an impact. When you have watched something like "Titanic", or our very own "Lagaan” you take the movie home alongwith you and live in the atmosphere for next few hours, even a few days perhaps. "Da Vinci Code" failed to have this kind of after-movie impact, at least in my case.

In Conclusion,If I had to rate "Da Vinci Code" (movie-version) on a scale 1 to 10, I would put it at 6. It doesn’t disappoint you, but it doesn’t excite you either!!
My suggestion would be, do watch it if you get a chance, but in case you can't make it, don’t fret yourself... you wouldn’t be missing out on too much.